Friday, October 27, 2006

The Click to Call Disconnect

A new report suggests that click-to-call technology may never get off the ground, but I'm a bit more optimistic. Analysts Pike and Fischer say that consumers won't warm to having sales folks call them on the phone based on Internet requests because of privacy concerns.

Privacy is a legitimate concern, but the point of being able to hit a button and have someone call you is because you are serious about a purchase and need to speak with someone live to answer a question. Telemarketers have already taken away most of our privacy anyway, so as long as companies promise not to sell your phone number or call you back unsolicited, that shouldn't be much of a concern.

The report acknowledges the upside:

There are immediately observable advantages to a click-to-talk offering — namely enhanced communication, the opportunity for improved customer service, an expedited sales cycle, and the opportunity for impulse shopping. Furthermore, click-to-talk technology could open up whole new areas of interactive broadband marketing by integrating popular forms of rich media advertising with a voice communications feature.

As more users get microphones and broadband access, privacy concerns could be avoided since you could start a VOIP connection directly. Also, companies could reduce their cost by having customer service or sales reps handle multiple customers through IM sessions. It's anonymous, easy to do, and people could provide instant feedback to several people at a time.

Searching for products online can be much faster than walking the aisles of, say, Home Depot or WalMart, and having a body on standby provides the real world advantage of being able to answer a question and close a sale. While click-to-call will be a niche service, the cost benefits to marketers means it won't go away soon.

Posted By John Gartner at 06:11 PM
Permanent Link: The Click to Call Disconnect | Comments (2)

(2) Comments on The Click to Call Disconnect

I think having the option to talk to a sales rep for an online purchase is a great idea. I think it increases the legitimacy of the site if we can talk to real people before making a purchase.

Comments by tabbie : Sunday, October 29, 2006 at 06:42 PM

Click to call makes sense for all the points mentioned in the article. The challenge for marketers is putting those C2C icons in front of the right consumers at the right time. No one wants calls asking if their refrigerator is running. Over and over.

Comments by Drew Robertson : Tuesday, October 31, 2006 at 11:30 AM

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